Legacy Steakhouse next step for local restauranteur family

Next week, Legacy Steakhouse will open in Jasper and complete the restaurant trifecta for brother/sister partners Jared Weisheit and Tracey Price.

The pair — with the help of their family and especially their father, Terry, who carries the inhouse title Vice President of Maintenance — have already established two popular restaurants in Dubois County. Pub ‘N’ Grub specializes in barbecue, ribs, wings and pizza in Jasper, and Fry’d and Chop’d offers up great burgers and french fries with a side of axe throwing in Huntingburg.

For the pair, Legacy is the culmination of their own passion for creating great food and commitment to the community.

“Really, that is why we chose the name,” Tracey said. “It just fits with what we are trying to build here, a legacy.”

“I think this will be our flagship,” she added, pointing out that they are also building this for their family’s future.

With the ongoing struggles with supplies — during this interview on Tuesday, Tracey mentioned she just found out they couldn’t get their normal order of hamburger buns — and low unemployment, as well as the increasing pressure from new chains, opening a new restaurant could seem risky.

But for the family, success is built around quality food and service. And they have a pretty loyal fanbase. It is common to hear customers visit Fry’d one day for a great burger and come by Pub for the wing special later in the week.

The path to Legacy began when they were invited to check out Shoney’s this past spring since the restaurant was set to close in the fall. The franchise was up for renewal, and the owner had decided to retire.

Tracey said that as they walked out of the tour and got into their truck to leave, she and Jared looked at each other and said, “so, we’re gonna buy another building.”

“We just knew,” Tracey said. “Then we came back and looked at it again just to make sure — kind of a gut check — and we’re like, ‘okay, we’re in.'”

Several factors drove the decision. The location and size of the new restaurant were important. The other two restaurants rely on public parking, and the buildings have been converted for other uses — Pub ‘n’ Grub was a residence, and Fry’d was the Huntingburg American Legion. The new location is the first building that was designed and built to be a restaurant. Plus, it has a lot of seating capacity.

“The location was prime,” Tracey admitted.

In their planning, those factors and being curbside to the busiest road in Jasper allowed them to really consider what they wanted to bring to the area.

“We were like, let’s do something we’ve never done before,” Tracey said. “Let’s create a steakhouse.”

The menu features a lot of what you would expect from a great steakhouse. Beef in all of its forms — sirloin, NY Strip, Porterhouse, filet, ribeye and a cut they are calling filet medallions (the thinner tips of — highlights the menu. Each steak is lightly seasoned with a proprietary blend they created.

And Jared also wanted to add some surf to the turf, so you will see lobster rolls and shrimp available to accent your cut of beef.

If anyone knows the family, they enjoy brainstorming and coming up with fun ideas. An early storming session about the new restaurant had them circling around a chicken and steak theme called Moo Cluckers. It didn’t make the cut, obviously, but if you check the menu, you will see The Moo and the Clucker — both signature sandwiches.

“Jared is excited by the lobster roll because you can’t really get that around here,” Tracy said. “I am excited about the Sloppy Jimmy (a hand-breaded chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and peppercorn gravy). I am really excited about the blacked chicken. It is my creation, and I really, really love the blackened seasoning.”

The family’s goal is to provide a quality cut at a price point that isn’t too expensive but what could be considered an affordable, high-quality dining experience.

Along with the dinner options, Legacy Steakhouse will have a lunch menu and breakfast on the weekends. When they took over the building, they inherited the salad bar, so they also plan on offering a fantastic salad spread.

You won’t see a lot of crossover between the three restaurants’ menus either. If you want ribs, they want you to go to Pub. Specialty seasoned fries and great burgers, go to Fry’d.

The new restaurant will open at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, November 1, with the dinner menu and then be open daily as they gauge the response from the public. For now, they will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays; 7 a.m. (offering breakfast) to 9 p.m. on Saturday; and 7 a.m. (offering breakfast) to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

Online ordering and carryout will also be available. You can also order by phone, which at the time of the interview wasn’t connected yet but will be found on Facebook or their website along with the full menu. Legacy Steakhouse is located at 25 Indiana Street, Jasper.